


servile

by TheFreakWithTheWings



Series: Word a Day [27]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 10:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17847338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreakWithTheWings/pseuds/TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: servile: meanly or cravenly submissive: abjectWhy had Master Jinn brought Ani along with him? Was there no where else he could go?





	servile

Padmé hadn't intended to seek out Anakin on the way to Naboo, as there was still so much to discuss with the people who would be needed to free her planet that she thought she wouldn't have the time. However, she'd had such a bad case of nerves that she suddenly couldn't stand to be still. She needed to move about, to burn off some nervous energy before she snapped. The confines of her ship had never felt so small before; the trip through hyperspace had never been so long. She walked through the halls wearing not the full face of Queen Amidala but the sunset robes of the handmaiden Padmé.

So intent was she on her pacing that Padmé almost tripped over him as she walked through the engine room.

"Ani!" she said, her voice nearing a sharp shout of surprise before she lowered it. "What are you doing here?"

"I like to listen to the engine," Ani said. "And it's warmer in here than the rest of the ship."

He was still wearing his clothes from Tatooine; no wonder he was cold again. Hadn't the Jedi given him anything else to wear?

When Padmé asked that question, Anakin curled in on himself, a nautilus of hurt and rejection. "The Jedi didn't want me 'cause I'm too old. Master Qui-Gon let me stick around so that I can be his Padawan after he helps you."

Too old? Too __old__? Now, Padmé could understand some professions wanting candidates who started out young, being a fourteen year old queen, but it wasn't as if Force-sensitive children were numerous enough that the Jedi should just throw him into the nearest battlefield. And yes, Padmé had experienced a few violent conflicts herself during her time helping refugees, but she had trained for it and then trained even more with her handmaidens.

Why had Master Jinn brought Ani along with him? Was there no where else he could go?

Padmé recalled meeting him for the first time and being so surprised that he was a slave. Most of the things she had been taught about slavery led her to believe that they were servile and scared, nothing like the fiery indignation in Anakin as he asserted his identity and personhood. If that was all he had to go back to, then maybe she could understand preferring to join in a planetary liberation force.

Of course, without him, there wouldn't even be a planetary liberation force. Anakin had already risked his life for both his freedom and their cause. The least that Padmé could do was offer him a choice.

"You know," she began, sinking down next to him in order to share a little body heat. "The Jedi aren't your only option. The Queen is very grateful for the help you gave us. I wouldn't be surprised if she offered you citizenship on Naboo."

Anakin gaped at her, his eyes wide. "Do you really think so?"

The only thing that kept Padmé from telling him that as the current Queen of Naboo she could definitely make him a citizen was the fact that her handmaidens would skin her alive for breaking protocol like that. Instead, she said “Ani, I swear I will do everything in my power to help you once the Trade Federation is gone.”

He gazed at her for a moment longer. “You’re telling the truth,” he said, his voice a little distant. A brilliant smile broke over Ani’s face as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m pretty sure you are an angel. Thank you so much, Padmé.”

**Author's Note:**

> In which the author uses Padmé to wonder about some of the things she wondered about and to be upset about some of the upsetting things Jedi do.


End file.
